Qingdao Sea-Line Trading Co. v. United States , 766 F.3d 1378 ( 2014 )


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  •   United States Court of Appeals
    for the Federal Circuit
    ______________________
    QINGDAO SEA-LINE TRADING CO., LTD.,
    Plaintiff-Appellant,
    v.
    UNITED STATES,
    Defendant-Appellee,
    AND
    FRESH GARLIC PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION,
    CHRISTOPHER RANCH L.L.C., THE GARLIC
    COMPANY, VALLEY GARLIC, AND VESSEY AND
    COMPANY, INC.,
    Defendants-Appellees.
    ______________________
    2013-1581
    ______________________
    Appeal from the United States Court of International
    Trade in No. 10-CV-0304, Judge Richard K. Eaton.
    ______________________
    Decided: September 10, 2014
    ______________________
    ROBERT T. HUME, Hume & Associates LLC, of Ojai,
    California, argued for plaintiff-appellant.
    RICHARD P. SCHROEDER, Trial Attorney, Commercial
    Litigation Branch, Civil Division, United States Depart-
    2                       QINGDAO SEA-LINE TRADING CO.   v. US
    ment of Justice, of Washington, DC, argued for defendant-
    appellee. With him on the brief were STUART F. DELERY,
    Assistant Attorney General, JEANNE E. DAVIDSON, Direc-
    tor, and REGINALD T. BLADES, JR., Assistant Director. Of
    counsel on the brief was WHITNEY M. ROLIG, Attorney,
    United States Department of Commerce, Office of the
    Chief Counsel for Import Administration, of Washington,
    DC.
    MICHAEL J. COURSEY, Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, of
    Washington, DC, argued for defendants-appellees. With
    him on the brief was JOHN M. HERRMANN.
    ______________________
    Before NEWMAN, REYNA, and CHEN, Circuit Judges.
    REYNA, Circuit Judge.
    Qingdao Sea-line Trading Company (“Sea-line”) ap-
    peals a decision of the Court of International Trade af-
    firming the Department of Commerce’s final remand
    results in a new shipper review and assignment of an
    antidumping duty on Sea-line’s imports of fresh whole
    garlic bulbs from the People’s Republic of China. For the
    reasons set forth below, we affirm.
    I
    A. NEW SHIPPER REVIEW
    Sea-line challenges the Department of Commerce’s
    (“Commerce”) calculation of its antidumping duty, which
    it contends is not supported by substantial evidence.
    Commerce calculated the antidumping duty as part of a
    new shipper review initiated at Sea-line’s request on an
    outstanding 1994 antidumping order on fresh garlic
    QINGDAO SEA-LINE TRADING CO.   v. US                      3
    imports from China. 1 A new shipper review covers im-
    ports by an importer or producer that was not subject to
    the initial antidumping duty investigation and believes it
    is entitled to an individual antidumping duty margin.
    
    19 U.S.C. § 1675
    (a)(2)(B). New shipper reviews cover
    imports made during a period subsequent to the period of
    review for the initial investigation.
    Commerce conducted Sea-line’s new shipper review
    for the period of November 1, 2008 through April 30,
    2009. Because China is a non-market economy, Com-
    merce calculated the factors of production of Sea-line’s
    fresh whole garlic using surrogate values from a compa-
    rable market economy. 19 U.S.C. § 1677b(c)(1). Com-
    merce chose India as the primary comparable market
    economy for this review and sought to identify a surrogate
    value for the “fresh garlic bulb” intermediate input in-
    stead of calculating values for the individual factors of
    production used to produce that input. Commerce relied
    on price data from the Azadpur Agricultural Produce
    Marketing Committee’s Market Information Bulletin
    (“APMC Bulletin”), which reports daily prices in India for
    garlic bulbs of various “grades.” Garlic bulbs are divided
    into four grades based on size: grade Super A (greater
    than 55 mm); grade A (40-55 mm); grade B (30-40 mm);
    and grade C (less than 30 mm).
    Sea-line reported a bulb size of over 55 millimeters for
    the garlic imported into the United States during the
    period of review, placing its garlic bulbs in the grade
    Super A category. The APMC Bulletin, however, did not
    report any prices for grade Super A bulbs for the period of
    review. Commerce thus averaged the closest available
    data points for grade Super A garlic in the APMC Bulle-
    1   See Fresh Garlic from the People’s Republic of
    China, 
    59 Fed. Reg. 59,209
     (Dep’t of Commerce Nov. 16,
    1994).
    4                         QINGDAO SEA-LINE TRADING CO.   v. US
    tin, which was for November 2007 through April 2008. To
    make this value contemporaneous with the period of
    review and account for inflation, Commerce applied the
    Wholesale Price Index (“WPI”) for India published by the
    International Monetary Fund (“IMF”). Applying the IMF
    index resulted in a slight increase in the price for grade
    Super A garlic, even though the prices listed in the APMC
    Bulletin for the other garlic grades dropped just before
    the period of review.
    In addition to calculating surrogate values for Sea-
    line’s fresh garlic, Commerce also calculated a “surrogate
    financial ratio” to account for general expenses, factory
    overhead, and profit. See 19 U.S.C. § 1677b(c)(1). This
    ratio is determined using financial statements and other
    non-proprietary information from producers of identical or
    comparable merchandise in the surrogate country.
    
    19 C.F.R. § 351.408
    (c)(4).  If financial statements are
    available from multiple producers, Commerce averages
    the financial ratios derived from all the financial state-
    ments. 2
    Commerce calculated a surrogate financial ratio for
    Sea-line by averaging financial statements from two
    Indian tea producers, Limtex Tea Limited (“Limtex”) and
    Tata Tea Limited (“Tata Tea”). Commerce noted that
    “tea, rice, and vegetable processing is similar to garlic
    because each is not highly processed or preserved prior to
    sale.” J.A. 137. Commerce thus decided to use financial
    data from Limtex and Tata Tea because tea is comparable
    to whole and peeled garlic, and each company’s produc-
    tion process is similar to that of Sea-line’s garlic producer,
    Jinxiang County Juxinyan Trading Co.
    2   Dorbest Ltd. v. United States, 
    604 F.3d 1363
    , 1368
    (Fed. Cir. 2010).
    QINGDAO SEA-LINE TRADING CO.   v. US                      5
    Commerce published its preliminary results on May 5,
    2010, and Sea-line challenged those results in two case
    briefs submitted to Commerce on June 4, 2010 and Au-
    gust 6, 2010. First, Sea-line argued that Commerce
    should not have relied on non-contemporaneous grade
    Super A garlic prices or used the IMF WPI index to inflate
    those prices. Second, Sea-line argued that Tata Tea’s
    financials should not have been used to calculate the
    surrogate financial ratio in lieu of those from a different
    company, Garlico Industries, because Tata Tea’s produc-
    tion process is not sufficiently comparable to the produc-
    tion of fresh whole garlic.
    Commerce considered and rejected Sea-line’s chal-
    lenges in its final results. Commerce continued to rely on
    prices from outside the period of review for grade Super A
    garlic after concluding that size-specific price information
    was preferable because “size is an important price factor.”
    J.A. 208. Commerce also rejected Sea-line’s argument
    that a consistent relationship existed between the prices
    for grade Super A garlic and grade A garlic:
    [W]e note that there is no historical price infor-
    mation on the record of this review to support
    Qingdao Sea-line’s apparent contention that price
    trends for Super-A grade would mirror those of
    the A grade price. Moreover, Qingdao Sea-line’s
    own arguments about the relative scarcity of
    large-bulb garlic (i.e., Super-A grade) in India re-
    sulting in higher prices for large-bulb garlic con-
    tradict its contention that prices for Super-A
    grade (the largest Indian variety) would mirror
    those of smaller sized garlic.
    
    Id.
     (emphasis original). Commerce thus continued to rely
    on non-contemporaneous prices for grade Super A garlic
    in its final results.
    Commerce also continued to use the IMF WPI index
    to inflate the older Super A garlic prices, noting that it
    6                       QINGDAO SEA-LINE TRADING CO.   v. US
    has used the same index in prior reviews. Commerce
    refused to use either of two alternative methods that Sea-
    line claimed would have resulted in a more accurate garlic
    surrogate value. Commerce rejected a “garlic-specific
    WPI” index calculated by Sea-line after noting that Sea-
    line did not provide any information on the price data
    that presumably underpinned the proposed index. Com-
    merce also rejected Sea-line’s alternative proposal to
    adjust the non-contemporaneous prices using a calculated
    ratio between grade Super A and grade A prices. Com-
    merce concluded that “there is insufficient historical
    Azadpur APMC price data (Super-A grade and A grade)
    on the record of this review to serve as the basis for a
    meaningful price ratio.” J.A. 211. Commerce thus con-
    tinued to adjust the grade Super A garlic prices using the
    IMF WPI index.
    Finally, Commerce continued to rely on Tata Tea’s fi-
    nancials to calculate a surrogate financial ratio. Com-
    merce rejected Sea-line’s argument that Commerce’s
    decision is inconsistent with prior reviews, noting that
    prior reviews had also concluded that tea is comparable to
    garlic. Commerce further noted that the majority of Tata
    Tea’s sales are comprised of tea. Commerce therefore
    concluded that Tata Tea’s financials reflect the best
    available information on the record.
    Based on its calculations, Commerce imposed on Sea-
    line an antidumping margin of 155.33% and a per-unit
    cash deposit rate of $1.28 per kilogram. 3 Sea-line ap-
    pealed Commerce’s final results to the Court of Interna-
    tional Trade (“Trade Court”).
    3 Fresh Garlic from the People’s Republic of China:
    New Shipper Review, 
    75 Fed. Reg. 61,130
    , 61,131 (Dep’t
    of Commerce Oct. 4, 2010) (final results).
    QINGDAO SEA-LINE TRADING CO.   v. US                        7
    B. FIRST APPEAL TO THE TRADE COURT
    In its pleadings before the Trade Court, Sea-line reit-
    erated its challenges to Commerce’s calculations, taking
    issue    with     Commerce’s      (i)   reliance    on   non-
    contemporaneous prices and use of the IMF WPI index to
    inflate those prices; and (ii) use of Tata Tea’s financials in
    lieu of Garlico’s financials.
    On March 21, 2012, the Trade Court granted-in-part
    Sea-line’s motion for judgment on the administrative
    record and remanded Commerce’s final results for further
    clarification. 4 The Trade Court agreed with Sea-line that
    Commerce failed to sufficiently explain why garlic size is
    such an important price factor that it justified using
    prices outside the period of review. The Trade Court
    noted that Commerce’s statement that “garlic size is an
    important price factor” is insufficient to explain why
    garlic size trumps contemporaneity in its choice of prices.
    The Trade Court also concluded that Commerce did not
    adequately explain why it was reasonable to use Tata Tea
    financials given findings in prior reviews that Tata Tea’s
    production process was not comparable to whole garlic, as
    well as why it was reasonable to not consider the financial
    statements of Garlico Industries. The Trade Court thus
    remanded for Commerce to more adequately explain its
    conclusions.
    The Trade Court, however, affirmed Commerce’s use
    of the IMF WPI index as an inflator in the event that
    Commerce sufficiently justifies its use of garlic prices
    outside the period of review. The Trade Court determined
    that Commerce reasonably rejected both of Sea-line’s
    proposed alternative methods for obtaining contempora-
    4   Qingdao Sea-Line Trading Co. v. United States,
    No. 10-00304, 
    2012 WL 990904
     (Ct. Int’l Trade Mar. 21,
    2012) (“Qingdao I”).
    8                         QINGDAO SEA-LINE TRADING CO.   v. US
    neous grade Super A prices. First, the Trade Court noted
    that Commerce refused to use Sea-line’s proposed garlic-
    specific WPI index after concluding that Sea-line failed to
    provide sufficient data to verify the index. Sea-line creat-
    ed the garlic-specific WPI in its case brief to Commerce
    and provided no explanation or context for how the Indian
    government compiled the underlying data. Sea-line also
    provided an erroneous website address as the source of
    the data and otherwise failed to provide a verifiable
    source to Commerce. The Trade Court thus affirmed
    Commerce’s refusal to use Sea-line’s garlic-specific WPI,
    noting that it “is particularly the duty of a party to com-
    plete the record when, as here, plaintiff is proffering data
    that it claims is the ‘best available information.’” Qing-
    dao I, 
    2012 WL 990904
     at *7.
    Second, the Trade Court held that Commerce reason-
    ably rejected Sea-line’s proposed method of calculating a
    price ratio between grade Super A and grade A garlic
    prices to arrive at a contemporaneous surrogate value. To
    support this method, Sea-line noted that it could “pre-
    sume” that the prices between grade Super A and grade A
    garlic remain “relatively constant.” The Trade Court
    noted, however, that Commerce concluded that one year
    of data on the price differences between grade Super A
    and grade A garlic was insufficient to show a consistent
    ratio over time, and Sea-line failed to provide additional
    evidence establishing that its proposed ratio remained
    constant over a period of years. The Trade Court thus
    concluded that Sea-line failed to show that its proposed
    ratio would be more accurate than using the IMF WPI
    index to adjust the older Super A prices.
    C. COMMERCE’S REMAND RESULTS
    On remand, Commerce further explained its calcula-
    tions and reaffirmed its decisions to (i) focus on garlic size
    over contemporaneity; (ii) rely on the Tata Tea financial
    statements; and (iii) exclude Garlico’s financial state-
    QINGDAO SEA-LINE TRADING CO.   v. US                      9
    ments from consideration. Commerce first noted that it
    “has consistently determined that the size of garlic bulb is
    the most important factor in determining garlic prices.”
    J.A. 343. Commerce supplemented the record with addi-
    tional documents showing that purchasers pay a premium
    for large-bulb garlic and that India coined “grade Super
    A” garlic as a way to separate new varieties of large-bulb
    garlic from the more traditional grade A garlic. Com-
    merce further noted that Sea-line’s own information
    indicates that its customers rely primarily on size when
    purchasing garlic. Commerce therefore continued to rely
    on non-contemporaneous grade Super A prices.
    Commerce also reaffirmed its reliance on Tata Tea’s
    2008-09 financial statement despite deciding in previous
    administrative reviews to reject the use of Tata Tea’s
    financials after concluding that Tata Tea was primarily
    involved in producing highly-processed or preserved
    products. First, Commerce noted that previous adminis-
    trative reviews relied on a financial statement from 2003-
    04, whereas the current review relies on a statement from
    2008-09.     Commerce reviewed the 2008-09 financial
    statement and found little evidence that Tata Tea’s pro-
    duction process for this period was heavily focused on
    processed products. Commerce noted that 89 percent of
    Tata Tea’s sales were of branded products, but refused to
    conclude that “branded products” implies “highly-
    processed goods.” Commerce further noted that instant
    tea sales, which are highly processed, represented only
    about 1.3 percent of Tata Tea’s total tea sales and that no
    additional evidence indicated that the remainder of Tata
    Tea’s sales involved highly-processed merchandise.
    Commerce therefore rejected Sea-line’s claim that reliance
    on Tata Tea’s financial statement was improper because
    Tata Tea’s production process was not comparable to the
    production of fresh whole garlic.
    Finally, Commerce reaffirmed its rejection of Garlico’s
    financial statements after finding inconsistences and
    10                      QINGDAO SEA-LINE TRADING CO.   v. US
    calculation errors in the underlying data. Commerce also
    found that about 91 percent of Garlico’s sales were of non-
    fresh products produced through extensive drying and
    processing and were thus not comparable to Sea-line’s
    production of fresh garlic. Commerce therefore continued
    to disregard Garlico’s financial statements in its surro-
    gate financial ratio calculation.
    D. SECOND APPEAL TO THE TRADE COURT
    Sea-line again appealed to the Trade Court, and the
    court affirmed. 5 The Trade Court held that Commerce
    reasonably explained why garlic size was more important
    than contemporaneity for purposes of establishing garlic
    prices. The Trade Court further held that substantial
    evidence supported Commerce’s decision to rely on the
    financial statements of Tata Tea in lieu of those of Garli-
    co. According to the Trade Court, Commerce reasonably
    concluded that Tata Tea’s 2008-09 financial statement
    revealed that only a small amount of Tata Tea’s produc-
    tion involved highly-processed products and that the
    2008-09 statement differed from those relied upon in
    previous reviews. The Trade Court also held that sub-
    stantial evidence supported Commerce’s conclusion to
    reject Garlico’s financial statement on the basis that it
    contained numerical errors and was not reliable and
    because Garlico’s products were highly processed and
    thus not comparable to Sea-line’s production of fresh
    garlic.
    On appeal, Sea-line asks us to reverse the Trade
    Court’s decision and hold that Commerce erred in (i)
    relying on non-contemporaneous grade Super A garlic
    prices and the IMF WPI index to adjust those prices; and
    5  Qingdao Sea-Line Trading Co. v. United States,
    No. 10-00304, 
    2013 WL 4038618
     (Ct. Int’l Trade Aug, 8,
    2013) (“Qingdao II”).
    QINGDAO SEA-LINE TRADING CO.   v. US                    11
    (ii) using the Tata Tea financial statement instead of
    Garlico’s financial statement to calculate the surrogate
    financial ratio.    We have jurisdiction pursuant to
    
    28 U.S.C. § 1295
    (a)(5).
    II
    We review decisions of the Trade Court de novo and
    apply anew the same standard used by the Trade Court. 6
    Commerce’s antidumping determinations are reviewed for
    substantial evidence. 19 U.S.C. § 1516a(b)(1)(B)(i). Sub-
    stantial evidence is defined as “more than a mere scintil-
    la,” as well as evidence that a “reasonable mind might
    accept as adequate to support a conclusion.” 7 Our review
    is limited to the record before Commerce in the particular
    review proceeding at issue and includes all evidence that
    supports or detracts from Commerce’s conclusion. 8 An
    agency finding may still be supported by substantial
    evidence even if two inconsistent conclusions can be
    drawn from the evidence. 9
    A. IMF WPI INDEX
    Sea-line argues that Commerce’s decision to use non-
    contemporaneous grade Super A garlic prices and to
    inflate those prices using the IMF WPI index is not sup-
    ported by substantial evidence. Sea-line argues that the
    record shows that Indian garlic prices fell just before the
    6    Mittal Steel Point Lisas Ltd. v. United States, 
    548 F.3d 1375
    , 1380 (Fed. Cir. 2008).
    7   Consol. Edison Co. of N.Y. v. NLRB, 
    305 U.S. 197
    ,
    229 (1938).
    8   Sango Int’l L.P. v. United States, 
    567 F.3d 1356
    ,
    1362 (Fed. Cir. 2009); see also QVD Food Co. v. United
    States, 
    658 F.3d 1318
    , 1324-25 (Fed. Cir. 2011) (citing 19
    U.S.C. § 1516a(b)(2)(A)).
    9   Consolo v. Fed. Mar. Comm’n, 
    383 U.S. 607
    , 620
    (1966).
    12                       QINGDAO SEA-LINE TRADING CO.   v. US
    period of review and that Commerce’s use of the IMF
    index resulted in a distorted and inaccurate surrogate
    value for Sea-line’s garlic. We disagree.
    In an administrative review of a non-market economy,
    Commerce is required to calculate surrogate values for
    the subject merchandise using the “best available infor-
    mation.” 19 U.S.C. § 1677b(c)(1). Commerce has broad
    discretion to determine what constitutes the best availa-
    ble information, as this term is not defined by statute. 10
    Commerce generally selects, to the extent practicable,
    surrogate values that are publicly available, are product-
    specific, reflect a broad market average, and are contem-
    poraneous with the period of review. 11
    Substantial evidence supports Commerce’s surrogate
    value calculation for Sea-line’s whole garlic bulbs. Sea-
    line does not dispute that its garlic bulb imports are of the
    grade Super A size, and the record shows that the APMC
    Bulletin did not report any prices for Super A bulbs
    during the period of review. The record further supports
    Commerce’s conclusion that garlic bulb size is a more
    important factor than contemporaneity. Consumers often
    pay a premium for large-bulb garlic, and the information
    submitted by Sea-line shows that its own customers rely
    primarily on size when purchasing garlic. Commerce thus
    reasonably concluded that the best available information
    consisted of non-contemporaneous grade Super A prices.
    The record further supports Commerce’s decision to
    use the IMF WPI index to adjust the non-
    10 QVD Food Co., 
    658 F.3d at 1323
    .
    11 QVD Food Co. v. United States, 
    721 F. Supp. 2d 1311
    , 1315 (Ct. Int’l Trade 2010); see also Fresh Garlic
    from the People’s Republic of China: New Shipper Review,
    
    75 Fed. Reg. 24,578
    , 24,581 (Dep’t of Commerce May 5,
    2010) (prelim. results).
    QINGDAO SEA-LINE TRADING CO.   v. US                    13
    contemporaneous garlic prices. Commerce first noted
    that it has used the IMF index in prior administrative
    reviews to adjust prices. Commerce further found that
    Sea-line failed to provide sufficient evidence showing that
    either of its proposed alternative methods would yield a
    more accurate result. Commerce reasonably rejected Sea-
    line’s proposed garlic-specific inflation index on the
    grounds that Sea-line failed to provide any explanation or
    context for the underlying data. Commerce was unable to
    verify the index because Sea-line did not provide the
    correct source of the data. Commerce also rejected Sea-
    line’s price-ratio method after concluding there was
    insufficient historical data in the record to establish a
    reliable ratio between grade Super A and grade A prices.
    Commerce found that Sea-line failed to provide additional
    evidence establishing that its proposed ratio remained
    constant over a period of years. Accordingly, Commerce
    reasonably concluded that the IMF index constituted the
    best available information in the record.
    We disagree with Sea-line that Commerce’s decision
    to inflate the Super A garlic prices is inconsistent with
    evidence showing that the prices for grades A, B, and C
    fell just before the period of review. Commerce’s decision
    to use the IMF WPI index is not inconsistent with the
    record. As discussed above, Sea-line failed to show that
    Super A prices closely follow changes in other garlic
    prices. Once Commerce selected the IMF WPI index as
    the best available adjustment method, Sea-line had the
    duty to submit verifiable evidence showing that use of the
    index was not the best available method of adjusting the
    non-contemporaneous prices. The burden of creating an
    adequate record lies with the interested parties, not with
    14                      QINGDAO SEA-LINE TRADING CO.   v. US
    Commerce. 12 Sea-line failed to provide such evidence. As
    a result, we conclude that Commerce’s decision to rely on
    bulb size and the IMF index is reasonable and supported
    by substantial evidence.
    B. SURROGATE FINANCIAL RATIO
    Sea-line argues that Commerce should not have used
    Tata Tea’s 2008-09 financial statement to calculate the
    surrogate financial ratio because Tata Tea produces
    highly-processed products and is thus not reasonably
    comparable to Sea-line’s production of fresh whole garlic.
    We do not agree.
    Commerce’s reliance on Tata Tea’s 2008-09 financial
    statement as a reasonable comparison to Sea-line’s pro-
    duction process is supported by substantial evidence.
    Commerce reviewed Tata Tea’s financial statement and
    found little evidence that Tata Tea’s production process
    for this period was heavily focused on processed or pre-
    served products. Commerce noted that, while 89 percent
    of Tata Tea’s sales were of branded products, neither the
    financial statement nor any other evidence shows that
    branded products are highly-processed goods. Commerce
    further noted that sales of instant tea, which are highly
    processed, represented only about 1.3 percent of Tata
    Tea’s total tea sales and that the record contained no
    additional evidence that the remainder of Tata Tea’s sales
    involved highly-processed merchandise.
    Commerce also explained why its reliance on the
    2008-09 financial statement was reasonable. Commerce
    noted that although it rejected Tata Tea’s 2003-04 finan-
    cial statement in previous administrative reviews, Com-
    merce examined the differences between the two financial
    12  QVD Food Co., 
    658 F.3d at 1324
    ; see also Jinan
    Yipin Corp. v. United States, 
    971 F. Supp. 2d 1296
    , 1314
    (Ct. Int’l Trade 2014).
    QINGDAO SEA-LINE TRADING CO.   v. US                    15
    statements and concluded that, unlike the 2003-04 finan-
    cial statement, the 2008-09 financial statement supports
    a finding that highly-processed products represented a
    small portion of Tata Tea’s total production for the period
    of review.
    We also hold that Commerce may change its conclu-
    sions from one review to the next based on new infor-
    mation and arguments, as long as it does not act
    arbitrarily and it articulates a reasonable basis for the
    change. Indeed, the Trade Court has recognized that each
    administrative review is a separate exercise of Com-
    merce’s authority that allows for different conclusions
    based on different facts in the record. 13 Here, Commerce
    explained the differences between the two financial
    statements and reasonably concluded that the 2008-09
    financial statement, as the only Tata Tea statement on
    the record, supports a finding that Tata Tea’s production
    process is sufficiently comparable to Sea-line’s process.
    Hence, Commerce’s decision to rely on Tata Tea’s 2008-09
    financial statement to calculate Sea-line’s surrogate
    financial ratio was not improper.
    We also reject Sea-line’s argument that Garlico’s fi-
    nancial statement should have been used instead of Tata
    Tea’s financial statement. Commerce refused to use
    Garlico’s financial statement after finding several materi-
    al errors that called into question the statement’s overall
    quality and reliability. These errors included discrepan-
    cies in the underlying figures and were not attributable to
    accounting system differences. Commerce also found that
    about 91 percent of Garlico’s sales involved highly pro-
    cessed vegetable products that were not sufficiently
    comparable to Sea-line’s sales of fresh whole garlic.
    13  Cinsa, S.A. de C.V. v. United States, 
    966 F. Supp. 1230
    , 1238 (Ct. Int’l Trade 1997).
    16                       QINGDAO SEA-LINE TRADING CO.   v. US
    Sea-line does not show error in Commerce’s conclu-
    sion that Garlico’s statement contains inaccuracies and
    reflects a high percentage of highly-processed products.
    Sea-line’s argument in response is that because Garlico
    sells garlic-based products, its production process must
    necessarily be more comparable to Sea-line’s production of
    fresh whole garlic. This general assertion, however, is not
    sufficient to overcome Commerce’s detailed findings. As a
    result, we find that Commerce’s conclusion that Garlico’s
    financial statement is not the best available information
    for purposes of calculating the surrogate financial ratio is
    reasonable and supported by substantial evidence.
    Finally, Sea-line raises before us arguments not pre-
    sented in its case briefs to Commerce. Commerce regula-
    tions require the presentation of all issues and arguments
    in a party’s case brief, and we have held that a party’s
    failure to raise an argument before Commerce constitutes
    a failure to exhaust its administrative remedies. 14 Ac-
    cordingly, we refuse to consider those arguments not
    presented in the underlying administrative proceedings.
    III
    For the reasons set forth above, we affirm the decision
    of the Trade Court.
    AFFIRMED
    14   
    19 C.F.R. § 351.309
    (c)(2); Dorbest, 
    604 F.3d at 1375
    .